


A Most Satisfactory Contraption

by bigsunglasses



Category: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: Dildos, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Post-Canon, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 17:33:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5173019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigsunglasses/pseuds/bigsunglasses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vedero's got a gift for Csethiro. An intimate gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Most Satisfactory Contraption

**Author's Note:**

> For this prompt on the TGE kinkmeme. http://tge-kink.dreamwidth.org/678.html?thread=3494#cmt3494 I never thought I'd be able to write this ship, but the prompt completely grabbed my attention!
> 
> Thanks to song_of_staying for a quick beta!

"What," said Csethiro, "is that?"

Vedero cleared her throat. "My friend Dach'osmin Tativin made it, with some advice from me," she said. "Tis powered by steam ..."

Csethiro had been married for a year, and while all the metal cogs and pipes at one end of the - the _Thing_ \- were perfectly incomprehensible to her, what appeared to be the wooden and _business_ end of the Thing looked far more familiar. "Vedero," she said. "I ask thee again. What is it?"

Her best friend and sister-in-law smiled. "I think thou knowest full well. Tis a gift, since his Serenity is in Barizhan for a full two months. This is to ... comfort thy loneliness."

She couldn't help it, she laughed. The sound filled Vedero's drawing-room, a warm sound to match the afternoon sunlight. "With such a contraption?"

Vedero leaned back in her armchair, relaxing as she never did in public. "Yes - why not? Don't, I pray thee, tell me it could not compare to my brother. That is not information necessary to my life. But why should it not prove sufficient until he returns?"

Csethiro bit her lip hard, trying not to give offense. She loved her friend dearly, but on the subject of science and inventions Vedero could be a little fanatic and obsessive.

She reached for her cup of tea and took a few sips, the cup providing a shield to her expression. Her eyes, though, could not fail to return to the Thing. "How - ?" she asked, without quite meaning to.

"Place coal within this box, and ignite with this lever. Then lie on thy back in bed," said Vedero, with the tranquility that so characterised her. "Think of thy husband, until thy state is such that thou may'st without discomfort insert the relevant part into thee. After that things are ... intuitive."

All sorts of things went through Csethiro's mind, beginning with the potential fire hazard and ending with how inadequately her own fingers made up for her dear Maia's absence. 

"I have," added Vedero, delicate pink limning her cheeks, "found my own version quite satisfactory."

 _Goddesses_. Csethiro abruptly felt quite riveted at the idea of her serene friend come apart in ecstasy on the spur of a scientific invention. It seemed quite appropriate. Also fascinating. And made her stomach do a strange twisting sensation.

"Well. I thank thee for the gift," she said, realising that her lamentable curiosity was going to overcome her doubts. "But how by the goddesses am I supposed to store it in my rooms without attracting the attention of my edocharei?"

"This troubled me too, until I thought," said Vedero diffidently, "that thou could'st visit me here in my chambers to use it. Thy visits here are daily anyway, and my own maids are well-trained not to touch anything in my study."

Which meant that Vedero would know exactly when she was ... adding coal, and igniting, and lying back, and - Csethiro swallowed, and shifted in her seat. Clearly her husband's absence - only a week so far! - was affecting her more deeply than she had presumed. _Deeply_ being the key word. She shifted again. Her body seemed to crave touch.

"That is a good solution," she said, looking at the Thing again. Dach'osmin Tativin had modelled the business end with a remarkably life-like touch. But wood! What would it feel like, compared to the curiously yielding hardness of Maia? It looked beautifully polished.

"Perhaps thou might wish to test it today?" suggested Vedero. Even more diffidently. "Thou art expected to spend another hour with me, as it is."

"Oh, Vedero my dear." Csethiro stood up, laughing helplessly. "Thou know'st me too well. Show me to thy bedchamber, then."

A few minutes later they had carried the contraption through to Vedero's bed, while Vedero explained the various improvements she had suggested to her friend, and the newer version that even now they were corresponding about - "though of course it is mostly her creation, for my mind is in the sky more than the ground. But I offered some ideas about the most effective channelling of the steam."

"Quite," said Csethiro absently, taking the pieces of coal offered. "Ah. Where do these go? Ah. Of course." She dropped them in, then fastidiously cleaned her fingers with a handkerchief. 

Her friend, neatly, pulled a little lever. With a soft growly noise, the entire contraption began to vibrate. Including the business end. "Oh, Cstheio save me," blurted Csethiro. "That is not at _all_ how the real thing behaves!"

"Oh?" Vedero looked anxious. "It seems most satisfactory to me, but of course I have no basis for comparison."

Csethiro opened and shut her mouth a few times, for a rare moment completely speechless. "I," she said, clenching her thighs. Her drawers were getting quite damp. Suddenly the contraption made a great deal more sense. "No. It looks. Very interesting."

The pink was back in Vedero's face, and she bit her lip in a delectably sweet way. "Then I shall leave thee to experiment. If it causes problems, call me, I shall be just next door." She retreated rather hurriedly, and Csethiro pressed her hands to her hot cheeks, body alive and trembling with desire. _It is just because thou dost miss thy husband,_ she told herself firmly. _Not because thy friend is beautiful, and her lips -_

Quite hurriedly she rucked up her skirts, yanked her drawers off, and got onto the bed. Her breasts ached, unreachable beneath their confines of dress and corset and chemise. But she managed to get her fingers up her skirts to her waist, drawing her fingers across her lower belly, always sensitive, and through the delicate hair topping her mound. She didn't even really need such touches: she could feel the heartbeat of passion between her legs and the dampness slipping down into the back of her skirts. Despite the desire, though, she didn't quite dare squirm down the bed and onto the Thing. The way it shook - ! She tried to imagine what it would feel inside her, and bit her lip on a whimper of confusion and longing. Too overpowering, surely, too much. 

She sat up and dragged the curtains around the bed to obscure her dishevelled state – this was not at all like the time she and Vedero and some other ladies had gone swimming, and seen each other in their light swimming-dresses. “Vedero?” she called.

She heard the door open. “Is all well?”

Rather ashamed, Csethiro confessed to the dimness of the enclosed bed: “I am nervous.”

“Oh, my dear, I had thought – well - ” Footsteps came closer to the bed. “With thy comparative experience in the bedchamber - ”

“As I said,” Csethiro remarked fervently, “this is not at _all_ like the real thing.” She swallowed, an idea blooming, an idea that seemed terribly naughty and yet completely irresistible. “Vedero,” she blurted, before she could change her mind, “would'st hold my hand?”

Silence.

“Through the curtains, I mean. While I. Well. While I.” She shut her eyes briefly, in disgust at her rambling. “If thou wouldst rather not, of course I understand - ”

“No! No. I mean.” Vedero cleared her throat, now very close on the other side of the curtains. “I should be very happy to reassure thee. One moment, and I shall bring a chair so I may sit by thy side.”

Csethiro heard a few scrapes as furniture was rearranged, and then a pale hand stuck through the gap in the bedcurtains. “I am here, Csethiro.”

The dusky world of the bed seemed very warm. That must be because of the coal in the contraption, of course. No other cause. Csethiro took her friend's hand, fingers curling comfortably together. She lay back down, and began to inch her nethers towards the Thing. 

She felt even more full of passion now, though it shamed her, though her nervousness had been truth. The connection of friendship and love and history running through their connected hands, similar yet different to what she shared with Maia, brought the moment a richness beyond the mere physical. Between her legs the ache was almost unbearable ...

She bumped into the tip.

“Oh!” She arched off the bed, shocked, stunned, at how the vibrations had burst through her body like a storm just from one touch, flaring through her inner softness, her sweet spot, her belly, even her breasts.

“Art well?” Vedero enquired anxiously.

“Yes.” The word slipped out unthinkingly as Csethiro pushed forwards again and lodged the tip firmly against her passage. “Oh, _goddesses_. Yes.” Her voice quivered as trembles roared through her. All trace of nerves were gone. She wiggled the few necessary inches down the bed to impale herself fully. “Oh. Oh. Oh.” It filled her gloriously, just like Maia, yet differently because it was so inflexible. And the vibrations. Goddesses, the _vibrations_. She was instantly near the brink, her whole form shivering there. Even as a girl first discovering her body's rivers of desire, she had not become so aroused so swiftly! A little dazedly she rotated her hips, finding the movement that would cause the Thing to put pressure on that particular spot in her passage - 

She cried out softly, clutching Vedero's hand ferociously as a shudder ran through her, a small climax that did nothing to relieve the full urgency of her passion. Again and again she began to move herself against the juddering object, faint wet noises just audible over the sound of the coal-engine, ramming herself onto it as far as she could, twisting herself around it. Desperate, her free hand came down to touch her sweet spot, rubbing loops against the hood in counterpoint to her movements. A moment later a greater climax hit, urgent and vast, and she spasmed upwards and off the Thing, crying out as the stars spread through her body.

“Oh, Vedero,” she breathed, sinking into the aftermath. “Is thy dach'osmin a maza? Because that was magical.”

“What mazei can achieve with spells, I truly believe any motivated scientist may achieve with more earthly mechanisms,” said Vedero. Her voice was oddly soft, almost breathless. “I am so glad it has pleased thee.”

Csethiro considered how far she could go in shamelessness. “I would like it to please me yet again, I admit,” she said. Her body was already beginning to yearn again, her soft parts dampening afresh. “Should I add more coal?”

“I – no – I think there should be enough for the present instance – I am perfectly happy to stay if thou need'st me still - ”

Why did her friend's voice sound so weak? Csethiro sat up sharply and stuck her head through the curtains, briefly blinking in the light. Vedero squeaked and tried to jerk away, but Csethiro kept fierce grip on her hand. Her _free_ hand. The other was just dropping her skirts, and had damp fingers.

“Oh,” said Csethiro. “Thou, too?”

“What?”

“I am not sure it is appropriate, since I am married and I truly love Maia,” said Csethiro thoughfully, “but I _cannot_ stop thinking about thou doing what I have just been doing. Whilst I kiss thee.”

There was a deep silence. Then Vedero said, in a weak little voice, “My own contraption is at present taken apart for mending, and I could not possibly use thine. How – how unhygienic.”

Csethiro grinned. “What about my fingers, instead?”

“ _Csethiro!_ ”

“It cannot be so different to using them on myself,” she said calmly, and yanked at her friend's hand. “ _Please_ join me. Marvellous as this experience is, I find I am over-accustomed now to enjoying such acts in company.”

From the growing flush across Vedero's face, Csethiro knew she had won. She tugged again. A moment later there were two of them in the shadows behind the bed-curtains, and Csethiro kissed her, finding those lips that had been on her mind for what seemed a terribly long time now. So soft and sweet! Csethiro pushed her back down into the pillows and blankets. Hands came up to twine in her hair, and she sighed happily against her friend's mouth.

“May I touch thee?” she whispered, sliding one hand down the front of Vedero's clothes in search of her skirts.

“If thou art sure,” came the quiet response. “I cannot deny I have desired this, but I would not have thee regret it … oh!”

Csethiro grinned as she pressed down between Vedero's legs, fabric still in the way, but thumb finding a delicate spot all the same. She began to kiss away Vedero's whimpers, catching the cries with her mouth, still moving her digit firmly against the silk. She rubbed their torsos together, both of them in idiotic fashionable dresses with a thousand buttons down their spine, no access to tight, aching breasts ... Vedero's hands clutched at Csethiro's hair, sides, into the duvets – then abruptly she twisted and reversed their positions, so it was Csethiro pressed into the bed, Csethiro being kissed, Csethiro with a hand on the still-exposed naked flesh between her legs. Long fingers stroked firm wet strokes, and she gasped and squirmed, seeking more, and Vedero laughed almost soundlessly into her mouth and then moved her head down to flutter her mouth over exposed collarbones.

“Thou art a tease,” said Csethiro, desperately wiggling against the fingers, “oh please, oh please - ”

The hand went away, and Csethiro wailed in frustration, before realising that Vedero was dragging the contraption over towards them. “I would love to see thee tremble on this,” she said, “while I touch thee.”

That sounded an excellent proposition. Csethiro slid herself onto the thing with a soft wet noise, and sighed with pleasure. It was still vibrating enthusiastically, though not as enthusiastically as Csethiro began to move. Vedero lay beside her, and she twisted onto her side so they could more easily kiss. A delicate exploration of lips and tongue, gentler than the performance between Csethiro's legs, but no less wonderful. They tangled hands fumbling with Vedero's skirts, giggling and gasping alternately against each other's mouths, until at last all was clear and Csethiro, minded to be less of a tease herself, sank one finger, then two more, into the hot tightness between her friend's legs. Vedero clutched at her, shaking. “Crook them a little – yes, l-like that - ” she stuttered, and it was just as Csethiro had imagined, all that hard-won, hard-learned composure melting away like ice under a summer sun. 

She matched her thrusts into Vedero to the thrusts she was making on the vibrating contraption, hazy with lust and delight. Her thumb found her friend's sweet spot, but then Vedero retaliated by touching _her_ sweet spot in quick sideways sweeps, and it was impossibly lovely -

“Oh - !” Vedero cried against her mouth, and came apart in a huge shiver and a fresh burst of wetness on Csethiro's hand. “Oh, oh, oh … ”

The sheer pleasure of bringing her friend to climax brought Csethiro to her own brink, and a few more twists against the vibrations – she burst, trembling and gasping before softening into Vedero's embrace.

“That,” she said, after a few minutes, “was not entirely fair. You have only had one release, while I am more than sated.”

“We shall have to even the score,” replied Vedero, then stiffened a little. “If thou wish'st.”

Csethiro tucked Vedero's head under her chin, and stared at pattern of flowers on the bed-curtains, only just visible in the shadows. “I shall have to tell Maia,” she said, “but I do not think it will trouble him. 'Tis not an affair that risks the succession, or with an enemy. And he is always anxious that he does not have enough time for me.”

Vedero's arms snaked around her waist. “Dear Csethiro,” she said softly.

“Dear Csethiro is feeling sleepy,” said Csethiro, smiling. “But I promise to help even the score at some future date. Maia does this thing - ”

“Don't tell me!”

“Well, 'tis with his mouth. I thought it might be interesting to try it on thee.”

“… Oh.”

She rearranged her arms, hugging Vedero more fully. “That contraption has stopped going. I suppose it has run out of coal. I look forward to seeing thee on thine.” Her eyes drifted shut.

“Don't sleep. Thy guards will be coming to collect thee in barely half an hour, I suppose.”

“Pah. They know better than to wake an empress for anything short of an attempted coup,” said Csethiro, and, though still with her eyes closed, found Vedero's mouth and kissed it a few times to quieten her.

Twined together, they soon drifted off to sleep in utter contentment.


End file.
